white picket fence

Does this post contain an obscene amount of photos? Absolutely.

If you’ve been following my blog long enough, then at this point one may be beginning to think: is she completely obsessed with herself?? Does she really think we want to look at 30 individual photos of her silly face??

And, I mean…yeah, kinda. But that’s beside the point.

{click on the photos to enlarge them}

the point:

As someone who enjoys taking photography, and also enjoys living a quiet introverted life: I am my own model.

I work well with myself. And who better to bring my visions to life…than myself?

I work on my own schedule, and I have the freedom to only keep the photos that make me feel good. Confident. Completely obsessed-worthy.

And I get to delete all the others!

I capture my best features (my green eyes), and my best angles (rule of thumb: turn my face to showcase that one cheekbone that is most definitely stronger than the other).

And sure, I’ll delete 980 pictures just to end up with the perfect 20, but it’s worth it for me.

As long as I’m in the mood for it, it’s a win-win situation.

And let me just say that scrolling through Pinterest while I eat breakfast in the morning has been inspiring me to really step up my editing game, and have fun.

Like…I want to be a Pinterest photo inspiration. How do we make that happen!?

(yes, please feel free to pin any of my photos to your Pinterest boards; you can find all my blog photos pinned to this board of mine!)

Although I don’t have any sort of drawing software or tablet (life would be much easier with either one), when I have an editing idea…I simply wing it, and make do.

When it came to editing this photoshoot I started with the general editing in my out-of-date Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 (it’s so old that I bought it on a disc). Lightening shadows, adding warmth, more natural color, and a bit of film grain to the shoot.

Then, I moved all of the photos into good ol’ fashioned Photoscape X (a free download), for the free-handed doodles — only armed with a wireless mouse and my mousepad. Along the way, I also created a few of my own little PNG cliparts that I can save for future projects (the stars, sparkles, butterfly, teardrops, etc.).

Was it a tedious task? Uh, yes. Plenty of mistakes were made, and by no means did a take a professional route for the process, But I’m pretty happy with the results, and I think it really brought my photos up a few notches!

Will I look back and laugh at them months down the line when I get further along on my editing journey? Perhaps.

But, really, I’m just trying to learn to have fun and enjoy the process. This is my hobby, and so I have the freedom to do with it what I wish!

I didn’t do this photoshoot with this editing process in mind though, the ideas came after the photos were already taken and sitting in a folder waiting to be made into something beautiful.

The photoshoot was originally just to show off my adorable sundress that I had just finished sewing! I am a sucker for a good dress, and when it came to wearing one with peak comfort levels…it turns out, I had to design it and make it myself.

I took the pattern that I had already succeeded in creating for my full-length 70’s sundress (made out of combining my custom blouse pattern and my tiered maxi skirt pattern), and edited the skirt to make it fall a bit above the knees, with three tiers, instead of the original four.

The easy breezy sloped straps (which is all just one long piece of fabric!) means that there are no spaghetti straps cutting into my shoulders or pulling on my neck, and the elastic waistband is tight enough to create shape, while staying loose enough to not cut into my abdomen and cause unwanted pressure and discomfort.

Also, a big must for all my designs is: no sleeves. I simply cannot do most sleeves because ya girl sweats a lot.

A happy accident is that the cotton cords that tie in the front of the top often create a heart-shape when they’re tied loosely, which I think is an adorable detail ❤

And to top it all off, the vintage bedsheet set I found for this dress is one of my absolute favorite ones I’ve bought! I may have paid a wee bit more than a set of vintage sheets is worth (like I said before, Etsy sellers know that desperate people like me will pay the price), but the good news is: I have more than enough left over for another project — or two!!

It’s the classic mix of 50% cotton/50% polyester, that I’ve found most sheets from this era are made of, so it’s super light and airy — perfect for spring and summer days!

After I finish making any article of clothing, my favorite thing to do is put an outfit together centered around it.

I knew I wanted to go with a neutral color palette with this one, and I’m pretty convinced that this pair of embroidered 100% vegan BANGS Shoes go with just about any outfit (I have yet to be proven wrong!).